100 years of Champaran Satyagraha: PM Modi says Swachh Bharat an effort to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi's dream

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated an exhibition to mark the 100 years of Mahatma Gandhi’s Champaran Satyagrah. The exhibition has been titled ‘Swachhagraha Bapu Ko Karyanjali Ek Abhiyan, Ek Pradarshani’.

The exhibition is a tribute to Gandhi on hundred years of his first experiment of Satyagraha in India, in Champaran and is an attempt to sensitise future generations to fulfill his dream of ‘Swachh Bharat’, Singh said.

Here are the highlights of PM Modi's speech:

#Swachh Bharat Mission is an effort to fulfil the dream of Mahatma Gandhi - of a clean India

#Champaran Satyagraha added new vigour to the freedom struggle of India

#Mahatma Gandhi attached more importance to cleanliness than freedom

#Along with Shradhanjali, we also have to dedicate Karyanjali to Mahatma Gandhi & the means to do that is Swachhagraha

#Essential for us to know more about movements like the Champaran Satyagraha

#Through the Champaran Satyagraha, Mahatma Gandhi showed us what a 'Shantipoorna Satyagraha' can achieve

#We have gathered here to remember a landmark event of the 20th century, the Champaran Satyagraha

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Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Movement) was launched on October 2, 2014 with an aim to achieve clean India and aims to achieve an Open-Defecation Free (ODF) by October 2, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

Gandhi had arrived in Champaran, a district in Bihar, in 1917 to take up the cause of the farmers who were forced to grow indigo, instead of food crops, by the British.

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Champaran Satyagraha was the first non-violence action initiated by Gandhi, who during his stay in Bihar, also delved in detail with the social problems like scavenging, illiteracy, and issues related to women and health.